Defence Ministry says not advisable to compare budgets of different ministries, after opposition criticism
The Defence Ministry on Monday said that each ministry has different missions and responsibilities, and therefore the budgets allotted to each of them should not be directly compared.
Ministry spokesman Lt-General Kongcheap Tantrawanich was reacting to an earlier remark by the Opposition questioning why the defence budget for 2022 was higher than that of the Public Health Ministry amid the Covid-19 situation.
“The Defence Ministry has been lowering its budget since 2020, taking into account the current situation,” he said.
“Our 2020 budget was slashed by THB18 billion compared to the previous year, while the 2021 budget dropped further by THB17.2 billion. The trend continues even next year.
“The mission of the Defence Ministry is to defend the country and provide assistance to people in times of crisis, especially during the Covid-19 outbreak where every party must work together,” he added.
“The Army, Navy and Air Force are well aware of the government’s increasing burden because of the pandemic and have cut down unnecessary spending as can be seen from the decreasing budget since 2020,” the spokesman said.